


Get By

by GoofyGoldenGirl



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Backstory, Brother-Sister Relationships, Character Study, Family, Galar-chihou | Galar, Gen, Gray Morality, Mild Language, Poverty, Spikemuth, parks, pre-game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:41:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22051207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoofyGoldenGirl/pseuds/GoofyGoldenGirl
Summary: Somehow we'll all get by
Comments: 6
Kudos: 53





	Get By

_Six Years Before The Events of Sword and Shield_

The park, if it could be called that, was a terrible place to play. If it weren’t for the tree smack in the center of the dirt field and the benches cornering the space from the street, it still would be mistaken as the empty lot it used to be back during Spikemuth’s steel mill days. The town couldn’t afford playground equipment, cover the costs for paving a path and covering the field with grass and plants, let alone maintenance. And perhaps it was for the better. Nine year old Marnie, in a school uniform a size too small, kicked a stray bottle to the side as she and her fifteen year old brother Piers set foot on the field. Children raced to and fro across the field. Their mothers worn and weary, occasionally looked on while venting to each other about the misery that made up their lives. Piers, dressed for his shift at the pub, sat down on one of the benches, the one that everyone vandalized to be exact. Names, professions of everlasting love, and swearwords were etched deep into the wood. Piers reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pokeball. His scraggy came out and settled on Piers’ lap. Marnie followed suit. She reached into her schoolbag to let her morpeko out. She set her bag on the bench and looked back at her brother. 

“Aren’t ya gonna go play?” Piers asked her.

“I don’ like any of ‘em,” Marnie glanced over at the children she recognized. The rowdy boys kicking a football back and forth with no concern of running over other park goers. The obnoxious girls caught up in some silly game or chatting in a group by the tree. 

“I don’ blame ya. Bunch o’ snobs no? An’ stupider dan a bunch o’ magikarps splashin’ ‘bout ‘m right?”

Marnie nodded. Piers let out a chuckle.

“Kids never change unless dey have ta. Dey ain’t like us Marn. Dey either ‘ave da smarts ta get it or dey ‘ave it forced into ‘em. Why do ya think mum wants ya ta stay in school? So ya don’ end up like dey kids will, miserable, broke, an’ piss drunk like der mummies and daddies before ‘em.”

Piers’ cursing did not faze Marnie. 

“But mum let ya quit school ta work,” she pointed out.

“I _pleaded,_ ” Piers said.

“I know,” Marnie answered. “An’ she still goes on ‘bout how ya should go back.”

“But den we ‘ave trouble makin’ rent. I rather loose sleep from workin’ all da time den from thinking that we gonna lose our home.”

Marnie stared at her brother with a gobsmacked expression.

“Of course ya wouldn’t get it, ya only nine,” he said. He stuck his hands in his jacket pockets.

“I do! And I know ya not workin’ now. Ya shift don’ start til five.” 

“I _am_ workin’. It’s a side gig ya don’ know ‘bout. Neither does mum,” Piers told her. 

“Like what?” Marnie asked.

“Never ya mind. An’ on ya go,” Piers’ hand tightened over his jacket pocket. He glanced around them, then motioned at Marnie to head off. She began to walk off then turned back.

“Can Scraggs come?”

“He’s got to be with me now. Part of the job. He’ll play wit’ you an’ Morrigan later,” Piers pointed at Marnie and her morpeko. 

“An’ can I stay at da pub tonight?”

“No ya have ta go home. Ya want mum ta be lonely during tea? And I’m waitin’ tables not singin’ tonight,” Piers called out.

“Bummer!” 

“An’ Marn?”

Marnie looked over her shoulder. Her morpeko jumped into her arms.

“If one of ‘em boys hits ya, kneel him in the nands!”

Marnie laughed. She ran towards the tree and slid behind it. Then peeked out to see an older man sit next to Piers. He had an apprehensive look on his face as he faced Piers. Marnie couldn’t hear over the shouts and screams but could tell that Piers’ scraggy had puffed its chest up to look threatening. Piers spoke. The man reached for his wallet and took it out. This made Piers nervous. His scraggy growled, and he made a motion for the man to discretely slip him the money. 

“What’s he sellin’?” Marnie wondered out loud. 

Everything happened so fast that she didn’t catch what Piers handed over. The man got up and walked off. Piers looked pleased with himself and gave his scraggy a scratch underneath the chin.

“Oh well,” Marnie went back to playing with her morpeko. 

Sometime later, Marnie spotted him out of the corner of her eye. A copper with a growlithe at his heels strutting in from the street. His eyes were locked on Piers and there was a spring in his step as he made his way towards the bench.

Her morpeko let out a surprised squeal. Marnie placed a hand over his mouth.

“Oh no! Piers! Morri let’s go!”

As she drew closer, she saw Piers sit up unusually straight. It was if he sensed the policeman’s presence before the growlithe barked and the policeman cleared his throat. 

“Mister officer?”

Marnie did not know how to describe the naiveté and the formality that seeped through her brother’s tone. He dusted off his apron before getting to his feet.

“What are you doing here son?” The policeman phrased the question as if they were having a casual conversation, but Marnie could sense the threat lying underneath.

“I thought I’d take my kid sister and pokemon to the park. Is there something wrong with that?” 

It was the truth. They were here at the park even if it wasn’t the most enjoyable place in the world. 

Piers turned towards the field.

“Marnie!” He hollered.

Marnie ran as fast as she could with her morpeko in tow because Piers never called her _Marnie_ unless if something serious was going on. She stopped in front of them and took a second to catch her breath. 

“Piers? What’s going on?” Marnie made sure to follow her brother’s lead and speak like if she were still in school. 

“I’m just trying to show the nice policeman that I’m here to look after you.” 

That was definitely a lie. Everybody in Spikesmuth hated policemen. Marnie nodded and copied her brother’s posture by standing up as straight as she possibly could. 

“Alright then _Piers,_ ” the policeman spat. “Then what’s in your pockets?”

“My pockets?” Piers pretended to sound confused. 

“Don’t play dumb with me, I know how you lot act,” the policeman stepped in. “Cough it up.”

“Mister officer I have no idea what you’re talking about—“

“ _Cough it up_ ”

“I have to go to work in an half an hour. I can’t be late, they’d fire me,” Piers blurted out. 

“Don’t think you can get out of this by telling me some sob story about your miserable life,” the cop said in a stern tone.

“And I’ve got to help my mum pay the bills. Our dad ran out on us and he don’t pay support—“

“What a surprise there,” the policeman mocked Piers with a laugh. 

It took all Marnie had not to shout at the policeman. Her morpeko and his scraggy did the job for them however which sent the growlithe howling. 

“I just want enough to get by and some change to take my sister down to Alfie’s for some sweets. I don’t know why you’re targeting me. I’m minding my own business!” 

The policemen gripped the back of the bench. His growlithe snarled. Scraggs the scraggy hissed.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Show me your pockets or do I have to do it for you?”

The policeman moved in.

“ **No!** ” Marnie screamed.

It got the rest of the park’s attention. The children stopped playing. Their mothers stopped complaining. They turned towards bench, but dared not get nearer.

“Don’t touch him! Don’t touch him!” Hot tears streaked down Marnie’s cheeks.

“And I wonder what you got. Weed? Fairy dust? Tar?” The policeman reached out to grab Piers.

He dodged. Then stared straight at the policeman and calmly asked:

“Got a warrant copper?”

The self-assured, smooth talking Piers was back. The cop stepped back, surprised.

“What—“

“You got any fancy papers with my name on it saying that I’m a good for nothing punk and deserve to be taken down?”

The policeman made a fist. His growlithe barked again.

“ _You!_ You have—“

“No right to know my legal rights?” Piers finished the sentence for him. “Then why don’t you show me the bloody papers then? You coppers always have to do things by the books, don’t you? Mister upholder of the law, though I’ve got the right to bend it as I please.”

The policeman grabbed Piers by the jacket collar. His scraggy hissed again before darting over to Marnie and assuming a defensive stance with Morrigan the morpeko in front of her. Everything was blurry, but Marnie saw that Piers wasn’t resisting, and that the park goers were drawing even closer towards them. 

“Think I’m gonna strike? You bet I ain’t. I ain’t givin’ ya a reason ta search me.”

Piers then turned his head to address the crowd.

“Oi! Everyone! Dis copper’s tryin’ ta search me wit’ out a warrant!”

This angered the mothers. It was their turn to step in and start scolding.

“Ya coppers think ya above everyone!”

“Piersy’s a good lad!”

“Take ya hands off him!”

“He’s a hardworkin’ boy an’ a blessin’ ta poor Tina!”

“What do ya plan ta do, arrest ev’ry boy for bein’ in da park?”

Flustered, the policeman let go of Piers. Marnie let out a relieved sob and rushed up to him. Piers wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. She felt Scraggs and Morrigan nuzzle against her leg.

“Fine!” He spat. “You may be let off just once but next time I’ll get you boy!”

“Before you leave Mister Policeman.”

Piers boldly stepped forward.

“To satisfy your curiosity, I’ll show you what I’ve got.”

He turned his jacket pockets inside out, revealing the inner lining.

“ _Nothing,_ ” he gloated. 

The policeman scampered off before Marnie could see his reaction. Piers took her hand.

“Come on. Let’s go ‘fore Mrs. Cunningham and da rest o’ dem start makin’ a fuss.” 

With a wave to the mothers, Piers and Marnie picked up her bag and started out of the park. Their pokemon followed close behind. For the first two streets, they walked in silence, then Marnie piped up:

“Piers why would da copper wanna arrest ya?”

“‘Cause ya not allowed ta sell things in da park,” he brushed off her question.

“But what was ya sellin’?”

Piers stopped in his tracks. He gazed down at her with a sad smile, the kind that adults and older kids put on when they were about to explain something very serious.

“Marnie,” he started. “I promise one day, when we make it big in da world, I’ll tell ya. But now, all I’m gonna say is dat I’m just doin’ what I can ta get by. It may not be right, I may not like all o’ it, but I’m doin’ it cause I love you and mum and we’ve only got each other.”

He gazed down at her with a soft expression. He extended his free arm out to her.

“Promise ya won’ tell mum what happen’d?” He held out his pinky.

Marnie took it with her own.

“Pinky promise.”

Marnie and Piers shared a knowing smile. Piers then turned forward and gave Marnie’s hand a tug.

“Come on now! If we stop by the pub early enough I can ask Fred ta cook somethin’ up for you ta take home ta share wit’ mum.”

“Yay!” Marnie exclaimed.

They hurried down the street with a skip in their step. 

_Get by,_ Marnie thought. _Somehow, thanks ta Piers, we’ll all get by_


End file.
